Lighter



y 1950 H. M. VAN PIETERSOM ET AL 2,507,83

LIGHTER Filed Oct. 15, 1946 INVENTORS HAROLD M. VAN PIETERSOM BYFREDERICK L.OBST

Patented May 16, 1950 LIGHTER Harold M. Van Pietersom, lllilwaukee, andFrederick L. Obst, Wauwatosa, Wis.

Application October 15, 1946, Serial'No. 703,434

1 Claim. 1

Our invention relates to a fuel charging means for lighters and moreparticularly to a means for charging a conventional lighter such as iscommonly employed for lighting cigarettes or cigar-s.

An object of our invention is to provide a clean,

convenient fuel cartridge that may be easily manufactured and applied tothe lighter.

Another object of our invention is to construct a cartridge and lighterarrangement in a manner to insure ease of insertion and removal of thecartridge.

Still another object of our invention is to construct a cartridge in amanner that will facilitate ease of its manufacture, its filling and itssealing.

A still further object of our invention is to construct a piercing unitwithin the lighter in a manner to permit ready access of the fluid fuelto the wick arrangement to enable its being carried upward by capillaryattraction.

It is manifest to anyone familiar with the use and manipulation oflighters that the fuel evaporates and it becomes necessary at times tosaturate the packing within the container with a liquid fuel. This fuelis usually stored in a separate container and is transferred from thecontainer to the lighter. It is often very inconvenient to carry theadditional fuel or store it in a convenient place where it is accessiblefor use. With the device described herein it is only necessary to carrya small compact sealed cartridge and when the fuel in thhe lighterbecomes exhausted, the old cartridge can be readily removed and a newcartridge inserted within the lighter without spilling or wasting any ofthe liquid fuel.

Other and further objects of our invention will become more apparent asthe description proceeds and when taken in conjunction with the drawingin which Figure 1 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the lightershowing the arrangement of the component parts.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the cartridge andadapter showing the piercing unit engaging the cartridge.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the filled fuel cartridge.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the sealed cartridge, and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the wick tube illustratingthe manner in which the piercing member projects outward above the slotin the wall of the tube.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views and referring now to the same, the character I!) showsa casing or container having the packing H acting as a fuel reservoir.This packing II is constructed of absorbent material and the liquid fuelsaturates the packing in the usual manner. The casing H) has a cover l2hingedly attached at 13 to the wall of the casing H3. The top wall I lof the casing 13 is provided with a wind guard l5 which has a pluralityof apertures i3 disposed throughits walls. The wind guard 15 is shownprovided with a bracket H in which a sparking wheel 13 is rotatablymounted on a shaft I9.

Centrally disposed within the wind guard I 5 and extending outward fromthe top wall [4 of the casing in is shown a tubular sleeve 20 acting asa support for a wick 2! made of absorbent material. This tube 2E! isprovided with a slot 22 at its lower end and has a portion 23 acting asa piercing member extending outward at right angles to the tube 213.There is an auxiliary tube 24 extending through the entire casing Ill,fastened at its bottom .portion and extending to the top wall M of thecasing 10. This auxiliary tube 24 houses a resilient member 25 andguides a section of flint 2t, acting as sparking material, at its upperend for contact with "the sparking wheel Hi. There is a plug'me'm'ber '21 threadedly engaging the bottom portion 28 of the casing 10. This plugmember 2? is provided with a slot 29 to permit its rotation, and theadjustment of the tension of the resilient member 25 against the flintmember 26 which contacts the wheel 18. The casing I ll has an inwardlyextending adapter member 30 extending at right angles to the outer wallof the casing ID. This adapter 3!] is provided with a plug member 3|threadedly engagingls inner surface and the plug 3| is provided with aslot 32 to permit its rotation.

The adapter 30 is disposed to receive a cartridge member 33 which isconstructed of soft material such as metal of a very thin cross section.This cartridge 33 is filled with the liquid fuel 34 and is sealed at itsrearward end 35 in a manner to prevent the liquid fuel 34 fromevaporating or leaking out of the cartridge.

When the lighter arrangement is put into use the tube 20 may be raisedor lowered to any convenient position with the casing l0 and thecartridge 33 may be inserted into the adapter 30 in a manner to permitthe end 35 of the cartridge 33 to engage a groove having a. lip 36within the plug 3|. The cartridge 33 being inserted into the plug 3|prior to being placed within the adapter 30. As the plug 3| is revolvedby threaded engagement with the adapter 30 it will cause the cartridge33 to push inward to contact the point of the piercing member 23 forminga part of the tube 20 and as the piercing member 23 engages the radiallyformed front surface 31 of the cartridge 33 it will cause the liquid 34to flow out of the cartridge 33 and saturate the wick 2 I. The surplusliquid fuel 34 will be caused to enter the packing l I and saturate itfor use.

It will be manifest that the arrangement of the tube 20 in its relationto the cartridge 33 will permit piercing the cartridge 33 eithercentrally or at a point below or above the center of the cartridge 33thus permitting either a round hole to be pierced within the cartridgeor causing the piercing member 23 to cut and remove a complete portionof the cartridge 33 at its end 31, due to rotating the cartridge 33 bymeans of the plug 3| during the insertion operation.

Obviously, the cartridges 33 may be carried by the user as a separateunit and may be inserted when new liquid fuel is needed within thelighter arrangement. It will also be noted that when the plug 3! isrevolved for removal, it will cause the cartridge 33 to pull out withthe plu 3! and a new cartridge may be inserted within the slot 36 on theplug 3|.

While we have herein shown and disclosed a particular arrangement andconstruction of the component parts constituting the fuel chargingmeans, it will be manifest that any type of sparking wheel or sparkingarrangement may be employed and any conventional type of lighter may beused, the shape or the contour of the case not having any particularbearing on the operativeness of the device, and we reserve the right tomake such changes in the form and configuration of the component partsas we might deem necessary or convenient without departing from thespirit of our invention or the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent in the United States is:

A device of the character described comprising a lighter casing forminga complete enclosure, a sparking wheel attached to the upper face ofsaid enclosure, a cover member hingedly attached to said enclosure forthe protection of said sparking mechanism, a mass of absorbent materialdisposed within said enclosure, a wick disposed within said absorbentmaterial, said wick projecting outward through the upper face of saidenclosure, a windshield mounted on said upper face and surroundin theupper portion of the wick and providing a bracket for rotatably mountingsaid sparking wheel, said wick constructed of an absorbent material, atubular member adjustably mounted within said enclosure, said tubularmember employed for supporting said wick, and open at its upper end topermit said wick to extend outward, said tubular member provided with anoutwardly extending piercing element projecting at right angle to saidtube, said tubular member further provided with a slot in its outer wallat a point below said piercing element, a cartridge adapter extendinginwardly from the outer walls of said enclosure in direct alignment withsaid piercing member, a sealed cartridge constructed of thin softmaterial, said cartridge acting as sealed container for liquid fuel, anda plug arranged for engagement with the inner surface of said adapter,said plug provided with a retaining means to support one end of saidcartridge, thereby permitting said cartridge to force toward saidpiercing element when said plug engages said adapter a flint having oneend in contact with said sparking wheel and a spring pushing on saidflint for maintaining such contact, said spring movable within a tubularmember mounted in said casing and means for maintaining said springunder tension.

HAROLD M. VAN PIETERSOM. FREDERICK L. 01351.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,748,323 Aronson Feb. 25, 19301,895,032 Fisher Jan. 24, 1933 2,368,070 Sandor Jan. 23, 1945 2,395,783Holtzman Feb. 26, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 10,826 GreatBritain May 7, 1912 723,190 France Jan. 12, 1932

